Child has been diagnosed hand foot and mouth

[Costa2616]

My LO is 2 years old. I picked her up from nursery on Monday, today is Friday. When I collected her they said she was not herself, wouldn’t play and spent the day sitting alone or lying down. That night she had a temp and wouldn’t eat and Tuesday morning her mouth was full of painfully sore ulcers. They covered her inside lip, tongue and back of throat. Trip to out of hours and they told us viral go home and keep an eye on here. Roll on that evening and she couldn’t sleep because of pain so a trip to our regular GP and they diagnosed hand foot and mouth. It’s been five days and she still has no rash/sores or bumps anywhere other than her mouth which makes me think they could possibly be wrong? Reluctant to take her back in case I’m over reacting but she isn’t getting any better and still has a temp day 5 with mouth sores now making it impossible for her to eat. Her breath also smells foul because of I presume the infection. Does anyone have experience with hand foot and mouth only affecting the mouth?

My little girl had this at 12 months - diagnosed with 3 different things in 3 days but they eventually decided it was herpetic stomatitis which fits.

shes 3 now and hasn’t had another outbreak. I remember it being horrendous at the time - we did end up in hospital twice as I couldn’t get her to drink. She’d have a little milk then with the temp would vomit it back up. Ultimately though all they did was encourage drinks and keep on top of pain meds. Infection markers came down after about 8 days and she bounced back quickly.

Hope your little one recovers quickly xx

Hi thank you for your reply. This is what I first thought she had but GP dismissed the idea and said with utmost certainty it was hand foot and mouth despite no rash or sores anywhere else. Was your little one unwell with it. She isn’t herself at all. Doesn’t move off the sofa and hasn’t had a thing to drink or eat today because her mouth is too sure. She was up all night crying.

She was really quite poorly. She didn’t eat for 7 days and was a real struggle to get fluids into her - somehow she avoided becoming dehydrated. I still think about it now being one of the worst weeks of her life!

They first diagnosed hand foot and mouth and said blisters would appear on hands and feet but they didn’t; she had 3 little blisters around her mouth externally, one random one under her eye but all the rest were inside mouth, tongue and gums.

I don’t think there’s any treatment for either infection, just time and keeping her as comfortable as possible. X

Thank you it’s reassuring to hear from someone who has experienced it. I haven’t been able to get her to drink today and her nappies are dry so I’m mostly worried she’s going to become dehydrated. Just feel awful for her, wish I could take it for myself x

HFM was pretty bad for my 2 year old and he also just had mouth sores. A few sleepless nights and not much eating. Then we both caught it from him and I sure wasn't surprised he felt bad!! Was unbelievably painful and itched so much I didn't sleep at all.

Both of mine have had HFM - neither of them had any blisters on hands or feet.
Just painful mouth blisters, very painful rash and blisters on bottom/groin and high temperature. They were both pretty poorly for at least 10-12 days.

Thank you so much for this thread, it’s helpful to know that some children did not get the rashes on hands and feet which is where I am at currently too. This made me think it wasn’t hand foot and mouth and herpetic instead.
Can I please ask as I am not sure how to we can do this for 10days if there was anything that anyone found really helped with the symptoms.
my daughter hasn’t eaten for 3 days and won’t really take any water and is just attached to me crying constantly! Thank you in advance x

@Math22 both my DC had HFM at the same time but only one had a few spots - there was a big outbreak at nursery at the time. My Dc had fevers, wouldn’t eat and just cried and cried. My sister then caught it (she looked after my DC one morning before we realised they were ill) and she actually had the blisters! I had it and it was horrendous; I had was hallucinating and in so much pain. Covid was a breeze in comparison!

Oh gosh I’m sorry that sounds so awful! I didn’t think for some reason that we would catch it. Strange how it seems to be more of a thing over the years, my mum had never heard of it other than the animal version!
thank you for the reply xxx

Have you tried giving her fluids in a bottle? I e. Baby bottle?

Hi, I just came back here to say that it turned out my little girl did have the HSV virus 😩 misdiagnosed by every dr and the only reason we come to find out is because after she recovered she started to periodically break out with cold sores. We had a very difficult time getting fluids in her while she was ill initially with the virus and had to go to the hospital. They just ended up sending us home with syringes to syringe water in to her mouth to get her hydrated so she didn’t have to stay in. It was such an awful time for her, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Thankfully it’s been a couple of months since she last had a cold sore outbreak so we’re hoping it lays dormant now. But always trust your instincts as I knew that’s what it was from the beginning and dr after dr told me I was wrong and it was hand, foot and mouth. The symptoms can be similar but she only had ulcers in her mouth and on lips and it was very very aggressive.

Yes thank you for the tip. She will only have this first thing in the morning though but at least she is having some x